February 25, 2021
The conviction by a court in Belgium in early February 2021 of an Iranian diplomat for planning an attack on an international rally acted as a trigger for this piece. The rally, an annual event, was held in Paris by an Iranian dissident group[1]. It caught my attention because I have met a number of… » read more
Posted by pbye
January 5, 2021
Four days after the EU referendum in 2016, I posted a piece in which I reflected on some of the problems the UK would face in building a new relationship with Brussels[1]. I had no special insight; what I said just seemed to me to be fairly obvious. For example, I believed that negotiations with… » read more
Posted by pbye
November 23, 2020
Ill-defined words or phrases can lead to serious consequences. Here’s an example from IT, which I know well. In the early 1980s, the IT world started talking about ‘legacy systems’, that is, systems which were currently running within their owners’ organisations, and possibly due for renewal. The word ‘legacy’ was used in a largely negative… » read more
Posted by pbye
October 19, 2020
Society in the UK and the USA is fragmenting into extremes, leaving little room for the middle ground and threatening liberal democracy. Other countries are also experiencing some polarisation, but, as countries that like to see themselves as bastions of democracy, the UK and USA stand out. There are of course differences in the sources… » read more
Posted by pbye
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Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized |
September 8, 2020
In September 2017, I posted a blog called The rise of the kakistocracy[1] . As I explained there, the word means government by the worst, the most stupid, ignorant and unqualified people. It wasn’t hard to find examples then, such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe, to name just two; it’s even easier today, unfortunately. In 2017,… » read more
Posted by pbye
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Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized |
June 12, 2020
The last piece I posted on BlogActiv was on the 30th March[1], a week or two after the UK had gone into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In just over the two months since then, the death toll in the UK resulting from the virus is, at the time of writing, 41,364[2], although… » read more
Posted by pbye
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Covid-19 pandemic, Languages & Culture, Political structures, UK in Europe |
March 30, 2020
When the COVID-19 crisis ends and normal life is resumed, will our behaviour change in the medium- to long-term, for example much more working from home and reduced travel? Before I try to provide some answers to that question, I’d like to consider briefly how the world reacted to the last significant pandemic: Hong Kong… » read more
Posted by pbye
January 6, 2020
The UK’s general election on 12th December resulted in a majority of 80 for the Conservative Party, a larger number than anticipated. Some had expected a much closer result or even a hung parliament. The way is now open for the UK to leave the EU at the end of January. It would take a… » read more
Posted by pbye
November 27, 2019
In December 2015, I posted a blog looking at how services are funded[1]. I’d like to revisit the subject in the context of the promises being made by the major parties in the UK’s general election, due to take place on 12th December. This piece aims to bring the 2015 blog up to date. Shortly… » read more
Posted by pbye
November 11, 2019
As I write, the political parties in the UK are beginning their campaigns for a general election, to be held on the 12th December. It’s the first December general election since 1923; December elections are generally avoided because of the weather and small amounts of daylight. The past few weeks have seen the government agree… » read more
Posted by pbye
